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What am I doing wrong?!?

TheDeterminedCTheDeterminedC Member
edited September 2017 in General 1025 karma

So, I've been studying for the LSAT on and off since January. Two months ago my best friend and I linked up to study and it has been incredibly beneficial to us both. We are each hitting about 60 to 70 solid hours of studying every week for the past 2 months. Over this time period, my scores have plateaued in LR. I am averaging -6 on a section of LR and it is driving me bonkers.

We have printed out and completed pretty much all 20-29 question type drills, we BR thoroughly, and I even went back to refresh with flashcards on the all the type of flaws. I'm at PT 59 and I have seen almost all LR questions from 10 up until this PT. Our method of attack seems to be working at least for my buddy--he got -0 on 4 LR passages in a row under 29 mins. Unlike me, my friend is a gifted thinker, but I can't say all this studying is clicking for me. Side note: it was actually quite amazing to see this happen. He went from -8/-10 per section LR average to -0 overnight.

I feel as if I am going backwards a bit. And with December approaching, I'm stressing out because of how far away I am from a 173. Is this a normal stage of studying? or should I change things up? Time is a little bit of an issue for me and I have identified where that time is going to, but I just make silly mistakes. I told myself to slow down on reading the stimulus in my last LR timed section (4/5 difficulty). Once again, I missed seven. Four of these questions came down to either subtle words in the stimulus or the ACs that I glossed over. I even correctly spotted the only major flaw on a 4/5 difficulty question in 15 seconds, but yet I picked the wrong answer choice. One of the missed questions was a 1/5 difficulty NA.

I keep making minor mistakes like these on every section test I take. Even though I want to say they are minor, they are actually huge. These 'minor' errors are holding me back and I cannot see how else to drill or study to get rid of them. Should I just spend 30 mins on a question I got wrong creating analogous arguments, playing around weakening/strengthening ect. them? I'm just venting at this point but if anyone has any advice at all, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

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Comments

  • akistotleakistotle Member ⭐ 🍌🍌
    9382 karma

    Hi @TheDeterminedC,

    First of all, every person is different. I don't think you should compare your performance with your friend. Some people need only a month to study for this test. Some need more than a year.

    What is your BR score (if you don't mind sharing)? If your BR score is close to a 180, I think you need to work on your timing strategy. I think this test is about how to effectively use 35 minutes. Maybe you should decide to skip at least two questions that seem difficult and completely miss them. That way you can focus on other questions. You don't have to aim for -0.

    Have you tried video-recording yourself? It really helps you figure out when to skip.

  • TheDeterminedCTheDeterminedC Member
    edited September 2017 1025 karma

    @akistotle You are very correct about individual differences. I was just trying to articulate that the method we are using is at least sufficient in regards to improving one person's score.

    The last BR score I had was about a month ago. I got a 170. I haven't been taking full tests yet as I don't feel like I am ready for them. When do you think would be a good time to start?

    I really like the mentality you suggested. Maybe I should view a curve-breaker question as a luxury--if I have enough time left over then it is worth the risk. Does this sound about right? I would bet I could correctly point to the hardest question in the section, which is something I could not do two months ago. Despite being better able to do this, I usually try and answer the curve-breaker when I get to it. I should probably stop doing that.

    I haven't recorded myself taking the test recently, but I really think it is time to try again. I've tried it once before but I was getting so many questions wrong that it just wasn't the proper time for it.

  • akistotleakistotle Member ⭐ 🍌🍌
    9382 karma

    @TheDeterminedC said:
    @akistotle You are very correct about individual differences. I was just trying to articulate that the method we are using is at least sufficient in regards to improving one person's score.

    The last BR score I had was about a month ago. I got a 170. I haven't been taking full tests yet as I don't feel like I am ready for them. When do you think would be a good time to start?

    I think you should not take a PT until you make improvements in individual sections. Maybe you should do section drills from used PTs and try to get around -3.

    I really like the mentality you suggested. Maybe I should view a curve-breaker question as a luxury--if I have enough time left over then it is worth the risk. Does this sound about right? I would bet I could correctly point to the hardest question in the section, which is something I could not do two months ago. Despite being better able to do this, I usually try and answer the curve-breaker when I get to it. I should probably stop doing that.

    Under the timed conditions, I think I rarely have that sort of objective perspective to think about how difficult a certain question is. I tend to think "Wait, I think I can solve this...." and end up wasting two minutes on a question only to get it wrong.

    I was told by my tutor to follow this protocol:
    (1) Read the stimulus at least twice; (2) Quick skim through the answer choices; (3) If I cannot understand what is going on after (1) and (2), I have to circle the question and move on.

    This process has to take about 30-50 seconds (depending on the length of the stimulus).

    When I do the second round (after finishing the last question in the section), I have to decide missing at least 2 questions. I don't have to answer all the questions, so I forget that they exist. I just mark (C) for those questions. So if I circled about 7 questions, I attempt only 5 questions.

    J.Y. says, "When you're taking your timed practice LSATs, learn to intentionally skip questions that you suspect may be "out of your league." Cut your losses and move on. Don't try to fix one mistake with an even larger mistake."
    https://7sage.com/lesson/why-you-must-skip-questions-on-the-lsat/

    I haven't recorded myself taking the test recently, but I really think it is time to try again. I've tried it once before but I was getting so many questions wrong that it just wasn't the proper time for it.

    You would be surprised to see where you lose your time. Sometimes you unconsciously go into BR mode (and carefully eliminating each answer choice until you are 100% certain) even when you are taking timed PTs (or sections). But under the timed conditions, you have to circle and move on if you are 80% certain.

    If you haven't seen @"Cant Get Right"'s webinar, I highly recommend it :smiley:
    https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/

    Good luck!

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